Rosebush
by still.looking
Summary: Oneshot. Apollo and Klavier investigate a crime scene and find something extraordinary. Mixed pairings, all implied, except for KlavierxEma. Written in two hours. :P Slight spoilers for AJ.


**Disclaimer: **Yeah I don't own Apollo Justice or any of its characters.

**Summary: **Oneshot. Apollo and Klavier investigate a crime scene and find something extraordinary. Mixed pairings, all implied, except for KlavierxEma. Written in two hours. :P Slight spoilers for AJ.

I wrote this off the top of my head when my internet connection got faulty and I was dead bored. Read and review?

_Why do all of my stories start out with Ema watching over Apollo in a crime scene? =)) Forgive me._

(By the way, I know you guys are waiting for an update on Bystander, but I'm on an executor's block on that one. This is to make up for it! )

-- Saguru 3

* * *

Ema looked over the scene again. It was late, around 11 PM maybe. The night sky was cloudy, barely a star in sight. It being new moon didn't help at all. She sighed.

Apollo looked around from the trash can he was examining, and frowned. "Ema, I'm sorry about this… you having to look over me… I mean, being the detective-in-charge and—"

"No, Apollo, it's okay." He looked skeptic, still stuttering over his apology. "_Really_. I'm apparently all done for the trial tomorrow anyway…" Klavier and Apollo had reassured her—separately, of course—that she wasn't going on the stand tomorrow. It was the third and last day allotted for the trials, and for this particular case, both the prosecution and the defense were sure that they were going to close this case with only one witness—Apollo's defendant.

With this thought in mind, Ema teasingly said, "But you have to be sure that I really am not going to testify again."

"Yes, I'm sure, and Prosecutor Gavin's support reassures me… albeit it being extremely weird…"

"So why are you on the crime scene again?"

Apollo smiled apologetically. "There's something that feels off."

"You can tell me what it is; it might get us out of here a hell of a lot earlier."

"Trucy was helping me, yet I'm still here."

Apollo had found Trucy asleep on the grass a half hour ago. After Ema rolling her eyes at Apollo about checking her pulse ("Her chest is rising, Apollo"), he had carefully taken her in his arms and asked a detective to take her to the Wright Anything Agency. Upon placing her in the backseat, Trucy had woken up and said, "Polly you cheat. I want to help" before dropping off to sleep again. Apollo had grinned and thanked the detective in advance.

"…and you know she has better eyes than me," Apollo muttered, poking through a previously unexplored flower bush pretty far from the body. He muttered something about "perceive" and "twitches".

"Herr Justice, no!"

"OW!"

Apollo pulled his head back sharply from the bush, an inch-long gash on his right cheek. Ema rushed to him before looking around at who was surely Klavier Gavin.

"How did you know it was a rosebush?" Ema asked incredulously.

"It was the only one of its kind around here; I thought it strange and it stuck in my mind."

Apollo winced at the light as Ema examined his wound with a flashlight. "Hold on, Polly, I'll get a medicine kit. Luckily the thorn isn't there, but it's pretty deep and worst-case you may have an infection."

As she left, Klavier sat cross-legged beside the kneeling Apollo, who was wiping the blood off his face.

"Is Fräulein Magician not here?"

"Yeah, she's probably sleeping back at the agency."

"And did you hear what Fräulein Skye said, Herr Forehead?"

"Actually, yes…" he said, wondering why Klavier was suddenly so friendly toward him these past few hours. "She called me 'Polly'? Is that it?"

"Ja," Klavier said, almost absentmindedly. "Tell me, Apollo Justice…" Apollo was surprised. He was forcibly reminded of Franziska von Karma, who Mr. Wright sometimes ranted about. One of the two things that Apollo picked up was that she always called people by their whole names. (The second one was that she secretly liked Miles Edgeworth, but Trucy had told him that that was "just Daddy making stuff up".) "Are you and Fraulein Skye going out?"

If he was surprised then, that was nothing to now. "No! I-I mean, what makes you think that?" Apollo felt his face rising in temperature. "N-not that she's… not… _suitable,_ would you say?" He shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, uh… I'm not that kind of guy!"

"You say you admire Fraulein Skye, yet you don't think you're appropriate for her?" Klavier looked amused; he was merely teasing now, getting the real point that Apollo was trying to give.

Apollo blushed. "I didn't mean it that way! I don't even know how to—"

"How to what, Apollo?"

The two attorneys looked around, and said simultaneously, "Nothing."

Ema overlooked it and proceeded to cleaning and covering his wound. "Hopefully the judge doesn't mind a partially injured defense."

"I've had worse."

"Now, are you still going to continue searching?"

"I guess so," Apollo said, rubbing his eyes unconsciously. "If not for that rosebush I—"

He stopped mid-rub, his eyes suddenly sparkling, fixed at a single point in front of his face. "Hand me the plans…"

"Plans—eh, yeah, right—"

Ema hastily fished them out of her bag and handed it over.

"Prosecutor Gavin, where did the criminal escape through?"

"Right through—"

At the same time, they looked up from the park plan to the actual scene. "—here? But that's the rosebush!" Apollo's eyes shined in triumph, looking extremely pleased with himself. "So that's why!"

"This is a brilliant deduction, Herr Forehead," Klavier said, and Ema marvelled inwardly about how they communicated without words. "This certainly closes our case."

"Except for one vital point—"

"Which Herr Defendant will have to provide for us."

"Can I go home now?" Ema said loudly, cutting off their victory party.

"Yes, Ema, and thank you again," Apollo said gratefully. "Tomorrow's trial will be over faster than you think. You can get some rest early."

"Thank goodness," she said. "Wanna ride the bus together, Apollo? My apartment's in the same direction."

Klavier threw a teasing glance Apollo's way, but he fervently wished it was too dark for Ema to notice; the last thing he needed was false rumors. "If you wish, I can give you a ride, both of you."

"That'd be a big help, thank you." Apollo almost bowed.

"I am not riding anything with less than four wheels." Ema folded her arms, knowing about Klavier's motorcycle. Klavier raised an eyebrow and pulled out his cell phone.

Fifteen miutes later, Apollo and Ema were sitting stunned in Klavier's limo.

Ema was growing increasingly curious. Klavier was randomly muttering to Apollo, to which the defense attorney responded with a blush and a clipped mutter. Ema had heard the word 'girls' more than five times from Klavier, and the word 'no' said in an outraged tone from Apollo.

Apollo was dropped off first; Ema could have sworn that was a spiky-haired head silhouetted against the curtains. Apollo looked back at them and muttered, "He takes off the beanie sometimes to rub in my face that his spikes are natural and mine are not. Now don't tell anyone?"

Klavier and Ema laughed as he slammed the door closed. "Apollo's cute when he's flustered or… pressured," Ema said, grinning.

Klavier raised his eyebrows. "Do you like him?"

"No, Proscutor Gavin, not in that sense."

Klavier pondered about her mood; it certainly was more cheerful than usual. She never used to talk to him without sarcasm or annoyance. Was it because of Apollo? "You are happier."

"I know, it's just that it's been a long time since I've seen Mr. Wright without his beanie. It's been getting harder and harder to recall, but seeing just that silhouette reminded me of the times when we worked a case together. That was a hard time for me and my sister, but we pulled through fine."

Klavier smiled. It seemed like she was telling the truth, from the way she gushed words without stopping.

"Well, this is the end of the line for me," Ema said. "Thank you for the ride, Prosecutor Gavin."

Without missing a beat, he took her hand gently and kissed it lightly. "You're welcome, Fraulein."

- xxxxx -

As Apollo had said, the trial ended before Ema's expected two hours. Normally it would be weird that he was happy that his client was guilty, but it wasn't, this time around.

"Like Mr. Gavin and I expected, Daniel Trofast was a well-known serial killer," Apollo said. "I thought it highly unlikely at first, but the rosebushes did it all for me."

"How is that, Apollo?" Ema asked, still surprised at the short trial.

"A well-known fact about him is his extreme allergy to the toxins uniquiely found in the rosebushes' thorns. This allergy is extremely rare, yet that's what makes him stand out so much—"

"His signature is still the rose, left on top of all his victims, right?" Trucy supplied eagerly.

"That's right, Fraulein," Klavier said, apparently dropping in from the prosecutor's lobby. "And, of course, that makes this defendant suspicious, since his arms were heavily covered. And everyone knows his arms react most violently."

Apollo nodded. "And since Trofast never gets involved in a simple murder cases like these, no one suspected this guy."

"But why did he choose you, Polly? Couldn't he have gotten a top-notch defense attorney, like what's-his-name—or maybe Daddy, but he doesn't have a badge…"

"It was most probably because the Wright and Co. Law Offices are of some fame," Phoenix said, emerging our of nowhere. "Or maybe it was because he needed a lawyer ASAP and we just happened to be the nearest by. Either way, the case is over and done."

Apollo smiled, relishing the words. "That's wonderful. But I still can't believe that even the FBI was on his trail!"

"Oh, and by the way, FBI wants to talk to you about recognition of some sort," Phoenix said absently, "You too, Klavier. They'll call when they have to schedule."

Apollo's jaw dropped. "I'm getting recognition from the FBI?! This is awesome!"

"Awesome enough to treat all of us to dinner?" Ema said, speaking up from behind Phoenix.

Apollo looked around at Klavier, Trucy, Phoenix, and Ema, and knew that feeding Trucy alone would exceed feeding all of them.

"There's no objecting out of this one, right?"

"Oh, don't worry, Herr Forehead, I'll take care of it," Klavier said, grinning. "I'm being recognized too anyway, ja?"

"Thanks, Klavier." Apollo grinned as Trucy started ranting. As an afterthought, he lowered his voice and murmured, "By the way, you and Ema would go really well together."

Klavier flicked his hair and smiled. "You may want to rethink saying that again, He—Apollo."

* * *

I love it when Klavier and Apollo are all friendly :3 And the ApolloxTrucy thing was supposed to be sibling love. :D

The case wasn't really developed; as said, this was written off the top of my head with no plot. I just let the characters lead on the plot, and put in the rose allergy thing for kicks. I'm not really sure if anything about that is true, but I needed that to push on the plot and get Polly injured :))

Yeah okay I'm babbling. Please review? :D

-- Saguru


End file.
